Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Today is Day 3 of my Chocolate of the Day reviews (if you read Monday's post, you'll know that this week, I started sharing my favourite picks from my daily chocolate tastings). And today I am talking about a unique chocolate made by San Francisco-based Dandelion Chocolate. It's the San Juan Estate, Trinidad 70% dark chocolate bar. Specifically, this dark chocolate was made from beans harvested in 2014 from San Juan Estate in Gran Couva.

I love how personal this chocolate is. Dandelion tells us on the packaging who specifically has sourced the cacao for the chocolate bar we are tasting. In this case, it is Greg. You may not know who Greg is, but that does not matter. The fact that Dandelion is so forthcoming about every aspect of the chocolate (i.e. sharing the harvest and specific info about the cacao farm, who created the roast profile, etc.) is what makes this small-batch chocolate maker so special.

Upon opening the package, I was amazed at how heavy the wrapping was, like when opening a gift wrapped in very expensive and luxurious wrapping paper. It's thick, fibrous and natural in both texture and appearance, yet has the look of something both rich (with gold accents) and yet jungle-tribal with the tiny triangles specked all over it.

But let's get to the taste. This chocolate had a lovely mild chocolaty flavour, with a sweet and creamy side. It was not fruity, nor tart, nor nutty. And the 'sweet', in fact, was very much honey-like in taste.

In fact, I was surprised by how much the chocolate tasted of honey and light liquor, so I immediately went to the wine cooler and pulled out a delicious Honey Wine (mead) by Rosewood Estates Winery that I purchased recently. The pairing was as suspected: perfect. I can see myself serving the two together, and also combining this Trinidad origin chocolate with mead to make a lovely honey liquor-based chocolate truffle.

If you haven't yet tasted this chocolate bar, or any of Dandelion Chocolate's products, I strongly suggest you do. I also quite liked Dandelion's Mantuano, Venezuela 2015 harvest dark chocolate bar for its light nuttiness and rich chocolate taste. Learn more about Dandelion Chocolate on their website: http://www.dandelionchocolate.com/.

About Me

I am on a mission to taste all of the world's best chocolate, and to share what I have learned with you! As a chocolatier, pastry professional and business owner with an obsession for tasting new kinds of chocolate daily, and with creating something new in my commercial kitchen every week, I can share all sorts of tips, tricks and techniques for 'chocolatiering', bean-to-bar chocolate making, and for baking. Join me on this journey for recipes, reviews, and chocolaty gift ideas by way of my chocolate blog (www.ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.com), my facebook page (The Ultimate Chocolate Blog), twitter (@ultimatelychoc) or Intagram (@ultimatelychocolate).
And be sure to check out the web site of Ultimately Chocolate, my chocolate and pastry business (www.ultimatelychocolate.com) in Canada. Oh, and I LOVE to make Piecaken and share my recipes at www.piecaken.blogspot.com.